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Roadmap to SEO Success for the Rest of 2018

So, you've done your research, evaluated the potential solutions for your organization, and now you know what makes your SEO dream team–whether it's an SEO tool or agency or both. But, the real work to bring more traffic to your website begins now. Below are some things to check off your list on the road to SEO success.

1. Host an SEO Kick-off Meeting and Set Objectives

With an Agency

Upon signing a Statement of Work (SOW) with an SEO agency, your account manager should set up some time with you and your internal team to begin the project with a kickoff. You should cover:

Key metrics

Competition

Initial project milestones

Team introductions and process definition

Scheduling of future communications, such as monthly reports

Additional items as determined by agency and internal teams

You should leave this meeting with a solid understanding of next steps and when all teams will communicate next.

With a Set of Tools

After you sign on with your tool(s) of choice, most will offer some form of onboarding. If you don't feel comfortable with the tool from trials and/or demos, it's a good idea to get one on the calendar. Once you have an idea of the tools' capabilities and how you'll use them for your SEO goals, set up some time with your internal resources to build out your strategy. Some questions you'll want to answer include:

What key metrics will we be using to measure success?

What competitors will we be monitoring in the tool(s)?

What are initial deadlines for deliverables?

What will be our reporting structure?

Who will be using the tool(s)?

You should leave this meeting with an initial roadmap of your SEO objectives and when you'll next convene as a team.

2. Enable Google Search Console & Bing Webmaster Tools

Whether you're partnering with an agency or not, two critical tools that you should enable are the webmaster portals for Google and Bing. These are known as Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. Both allow for insight into the search engine regarding any errors that are hindering your website's crawlability and indexability, as well as warnings from search engine penalties. Both are free to use and may have integrations with your analytics and SEO tools.

3. Conduct Competitive and Keyword Research

Your agency and tools may have different approaches to competitive research, whether it's keyword traffic, backlinks, or other metrics. To help with these efforts, ensure that you have a record listed with your key competitors, including name and website.

Tip: You may have different competitors depending on service line, location, or another factor. Your competitor set does not need to be the same across all of your business offerings.

If you're partnering with an agency for keyword research, you can skip the below:

If you're using tools for your keyword research, first start by gathering the keywords that you're currently receiving traffic for.

In a separate spreadsheet, list out areas that you may not currently rank in search for, but wish to rank.

Using your new keyword research tool, input your keywords from step 1, and export your findings.

Repeat step 3 for your keywords from step 2.

Once you have all your keywords, copy and paste all the keyword tool data into one worksheet. Make sure to remove any duplicates and irrelevant keywords.

Using a formula such as VLOOKUP, add in a keyword ranking data in a new column.

Group your keywords together by topic and add the topic category in a new column.

4. Create a Technical Roadmap

If you're partnering with an agency for a technical roadmap, you can skip to the next section.

If you're using a tool to assist with your crawl and site audit, start your technical roadmap by running the crawl.

Once the crawl has completed and the audit issues have been provided, sort the findings by category (URLs, Meta Data, Links, Load Speed, etc.)

Export the sorted to a spreadsheet, and determine what resources are available for each category (Example: Content team manages meta data, while technical team handles load speed).

Mark in a new column which team will handle each issue.

In another column, note how much work this will require whether in hours or estimated impact. (Tip: Technical audit tools should note how many instances of an issue occur throughout the site. This should assist in estimating resource impact).

Using recommendations from the audit tool or resource knowledge, document estimated impact on search engine rankings on a scale of 1-10 in a new column. If your audit provides scoring or another method of ranking an issue's priority, that's an easy way to do this.

Sort your spreadsheet based on estimated amount of work (lowest to highest) and highest impact on search rankings. These are your "Quick Wins".

Once you have your list of issues, their estimated impact on resources and search engine rankings, determine the priority in which you'll complete the issues. Insert these priority markings in a new column.

Sort the spreadsheet for the priority column. This is your initial Technical Roadmap.

As progress is made on an issue, note it in a new column, as well as any additional commentary.

5. Begin Content Mapping

If you're partnering with an agency for content mapping, you can skip to section 6.

Using your crawl of current pages, add 3-4 columns for primary and secondary keywords.

Based on the keywords assigned for each page, make recommendations for meta data, headings, and overall content revisions.

When you're making your content revisions or writing new content, we recommend writing with the keyword in mind and not trying to insert the keyword into existing content. This ensures that the content remains written with the user in mind, and not simply stuffing keywords.

6. Measurement & Analytics

If you're partnering with an agency for measurement and analytics, you can skip to the conclusion.

Using your analytics tool, create a new dashboard or report (naming conventions can vary).

Add a widget to measure traffic source/referrer visits from organic traffic. (Tip: Segment by keywords or landing pages if possible for maximum insight).

Determine what actions you would like this traffic to take, like downloading a PDF or signing up for a newsletter.

If you have key metrics, goals, or conversions enabled on your analytics tool, add those completions to your traffic widget. If not, follow your tool's instructions to set up a key metric.

Once you have your completed report, set up a schedule for the report to arrive in your inbox each month.

Set up internal meetings to review the reports and set up time to make additional adjustments to your strategy as applicable.

Diane Kulseth is an SEO Consultant at Siteimprove, Inc. in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She specializes in educating teams on the value and necessity of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for customers and internal departments. Prior to Siteimprove, Diane held digital strategy roles at the University of St. Thomas and CaringBridge.org, developing full-funnel marketing campaigns focused on acquisition and conversion. She has also been actively involved in the local digital marketing community, as a volunteer for the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA), on the board of Women in Digital – Twin Cities, and as a board member and speaker for the Minnesota Search Engine Marketing Association (MNSearch).